So, here is the next chapter. Longer than the last! Hope you also enjoy the quick update!

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"Fucking stubborn kid" Were the first words spoken by Wolf as the four army men left the house. None of them had expected Alex to welcome them happily into his home, but they had also not expected a knife to be thrown. According to Fox or Ben, Alex had been living alone for a little while before everything had happened, before he'd been kidnapped. The kid could probably look after himself, he'd probably do a much better job than some adults might, but he was a teenager, young and alone. He had no one. No real friends who probably didn't believe he was dead, and no family. The four men sat down on the steps of the teen's house were all he had left. None of them could quite process what had gone on in the house. They were all worried it had only been a week since they'd gotten him back, the boy was strong and resilient, that much was certain but he was still young and weak. He wasn't really ready to be completely alone. Doctors orders said he wasn't meant to be anyway. Doctors however didn't quite realise they were dealing with a teen spy and not just another kid who had a terrible experience.

A car drove along the street, the windows reflecting the sun's rays into their eyes. It was too early for all this drama. They hadn't really gotten a good night's sleep, how could they? Wolf most definitely hadn't, he'd tossed and turned on the couch unable to get the mangled, bloody body of the teen out of his head. All he saw when he closed his eyes now was the limb body of Alex Rider. He might not have treated the kid too well in the brief time they'd met, but he was just a kid. No matter how much of a spy the kid was, that was no way of treating him, he was just a kid. Fox hadn't slept much better. He had this recurring dream, a nightmare, that cause him to wake up every night and struggle to get back to sleep. It was the scene from Carlisle, only he was alone no K-Unit as back up just himself. Dressed in normal clothes walking through the empty halls. Everything was the same. The continuous tapping of water dripping to the floor, the grime on the walls, the eeriness. Then he would hear the scream. Alex screaming in the dream caused him to run. He ran until he reached him. In the dream, he smashed open the door with his foot and made his way in. Like in the reality he cut Alex loose from the chair and lay him down on the floor. However, each time it got to that point, there was no heartbeat, his crushed chest didn't even slightly rise or fall. He was left staring at a dead Alex. Every injury was the same, every bruise, burn, gash was the same that only difference was that instead of a barely alive Alex there was a dead Alex. Each time he had this dream he would awaken in a sweat, a watery feeling in his eyes. He knew now that if that Alex had died, his dreams would be so much worse, although how they could be escaped him.

"What are we gonna do?" Eagle asked, it was hard to know what to do in this situation, you had a lethal, emotional teenage spy who wanted to be alone, and four army men, not quite sure as to how to deal with a tempermental teenager. None of them had kids, and they didn't know what to do. The night before they'd all imagined that the next morning everything would be fine, they hadn't accounted for the crash, or the smash. They hadn't though that Alex would come running down from his bedroom, and brandish a knife at them, which then became lodged in the wall. They didn't know Alex, and they didn't know teenage spies, those were two topics not covered in Special Operations classes. Teenagers were not meant to be used for such situations and yet here was Alex his job being a spy at fifteen.

"We can't really do anything. We have a few options. We could march back into the house, and force Alex to deal with us being around, which could end with either him lashing out at us, or just running off, and in his state he'd probably end up dying cold, alone, hungry and in some ditch. That is not what we want or we could have a couple of us sit on the house, make sure he's protect, and we know where he is at all times, and another couple of us go to MI6 to fast track the adoption. That way he has to deal with us but we can also show him, that we can be on the sidelines if that is in fact what he needs more. There but able to not be too around if he needs that" Ben was the only one with any previous experience with Alex, he knew that the former of the options was not what they wanted. He didn't want to lose Alex.

Alex deserved a long, happy, life and unless they tried their best to help him, he wouldn't get it. The kind of life he lived now and before everything wouldn't give him it. Fox would put his foot down with MI6. He looked over to Wolf, while Ben was the spy of the small group of men, Wolf was the leader of K-Unit and he was the one who had the final say, who made sure that everyone knew what they were doing. It would be odd, if Ben would be the one to really start telling everyone what to do. Wolf looked to his teammates and nodded.

"The latter seems like the best thing to do. Right, Eagle, Snake, I need you both to stay here, Keep a watch on the house, make sure no one goes in or out. Don't let Alex know, don't let him see you." Wolf instructed. He turned to Fox, "You and me will be going to see MI6, and deal with this idiotic mess."

The four men nodded and headed off in the direction they needed to be. Eagle stayed at the front of the house, while Snake headed round to the back. The perimeter of the house was what he needed to get. The first step in ensuring that no one could leave or enter without either himself, or Eagle knowing. They then settled into the car they'd driven to the house the previous day, the only place they could run surveillance without being noticed. Setting up a small watch that would change and vary as the day went on. Mostly so no person would be able to guess it and sneak past. They were highly trained, and no matter their faults, or at times childish antics, they were extreme good at what they did when it came down to it. They didn't make the mistakes that the police, or regular men might make. They knew how to avoid them.

Wolf or James, and Ben headed towards the nearest underground. It was easy to walk down the street at a quick pace. They were pretty far from where they needed to be, but neither man wanted to get into a taxis. While both exhausted, they didn't want to have to deal with the rush hour traffic, or deal with MI6 too early on. James was barely keeping his anger at bay. His anger had been building up slowly since finding Alex almost a week before, but knowing that the poor kid had been so freaked that they'd been in his house, and would rather run the risk of being alone and hurting himself that letting people help him was the last straw. Teenagers were meant to run around, go out drinking with friends, try new things. Or just stay up in their rooms for hours on end, coming only out for food. They were meant to have that life in their eyes most adults lost. Like they were invincible. Alex didn't have that. In his brown eyes, the light was gone. He was younger than them, and yet appeared older. What sane adult, puts a kid into a world like that. Into a world, where they are very like to get very seriously hurt, or killed.

Ben had a little less anger than Wolf, he'd worked with Alex. Knew how the kid worked a little more. It didn't make things easier, but it didn't make things as hard to understand. Alex was a fiercely independent boy, and in his worry, Ben had forgotten that about that. It was hard to see past the bruised and broken teenager, when he looked in such a state. Any person would forget the spy underneath that no longer trusted, well, anyone really. Alex had always been a source of concern for the elder spy, it hadn't been right in his eyes. A young fifteen year old active spy, but watching Alex work had been eye opening. The boy might be young, but he was a natural. It came easily to him. As if being a spy was a part of him rather than just his job. It wasn't just something on the side that he did, it was almost as much a part of him as the blonde hair on his head was. It had been a mistake to have been in the house at the same time as Alex. All four of them. In hind sight he realised they should've slept in the car outside and dealt with Alex and what they were going to do in the morning. Not bombarding him. It would've been overwhelming for him, if he'd been in that situation. Best that is the nature of life, not being blessed with the ability to know how to avoid things.

"You think Alex will be all right on his own?" James broke the silence between the two men as they pushed their way through the morning crowd and down to the underground. James knew that Alex was more than capable of looking after himself, but the boy was hurt. There was only so much that he could do by himself.

"I trust Alex, he should be fine." Ben replied, only very briefly looking up at James as they continued down to the right underground line. It would be a busy one, considering the time and how close to the business centre of London they were going. While most would claim that a conversation about a teen spy wasn't one you could have in such a crowded place, Ben had learned, sometimes a conversation in plain sight was the most hidden kind of conversation.

"What about internal bleeding? The doctor said they got most of it, but to watch out for it? What if he collapses, and no one is there?" Wolf said as they walked onto the very crowded carriage, having to duck his head and squeeze in so they could fit in.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you care for the boy. I've never seen this side of you Wolf" Ben was attempting to lighten the mood. He hadn't ever seen Wolf be seen this concerned about anyone who was either himself, or any of the team members. This joke was greeted by a hard punch to the arm. Wolf laughed slightly after, along with Ben, it was good to have a small joke.

"Shut it. I'm concerned for Alex. I admit it. He's grown on me. Plus, I will be in no way responsible for him dying." Wolf looked down at the little amounts of ground that could be seen in the crowd of people on the subway. The two men fell silent. There was small amounts of conversation on the underground, the noise of the train too loud to continue conversations. A tired teen was listening to his iPod, music loud enough for others to hear. A woman was sitting in the corner, baby held against her, trying desperate to get the child to sleep. Business men and women, mothers, fathers, kids. Everyone heading into the center of the city. They had no idea that on a regular basis someone would be trying to destroy their free world. That over a year before, one man had almost infected the whole school population of England with a virus that would have brought the country to it's knees.

The two army felt out of place. They always did in crowds like this. No one had any idea what on earth was going on. They were oblivious to the wider world, and the dangers it possessed. A young girl was falling asleep on her father's lap. The father was stroking the long hair of the girl. You could say what you wanted about how MI6 treated Alex like he was nothing, but if it wasn't for Alex, if it wasn't for people like him, the world would be a very different place. Alex was a hero. The title of hero did however come with a price.

For, as they were standing in the subway, their hero, Alex was lying on a couch in his house, tears in eyes wishing it could've been someone else. Wishing it hadn't been him who had been given the task of helping the people of the great nation. How many heroes actually had everything they wanted? How many heroes were actually happy? Wolf eye's were stuck on the father with his daughter, he could never imagine having children. Not just from the lack of a partner, but more from the fact that he knew what the world was like. How could he ever put a child out into the world that had so much evil in it.

"James?" Ben said, tapping the younger of the two on the shoulder and motioning that this was their stop. Ben had not thought too hard about his surroundings. He knew better than to do that. Ben was a spy, he didn't think about things like how little the general population knew about the world around them. The men got off the train and headed up to ground level. Pushing their way through the slowly moving crowd. No sooner had they done that, but they were faced with the large grey building that was MI6's cover. A huge bank, that had the least amount of activity at the door. While most of the surrounding buildings had steady flows of people entering, the MI6 building had one or two people go in at most. It would be suspicious to people who knew what they were looking at, but since most of these people were happy to believe the lie they'd been fed. Not many would actually notice what went on in the building.

James looked to Ben and gave a small nod. It was now or never. They had to deal with it, before they went to back to Alex. James just hoped that the visit would return them with what they needed. Ben just was deeply wishing that his friend didn't lose his patience at the people they'd be dealing with. There was a difference in the way army men could be emotionless, and how the spies and heads at MI6 were, this would be the show of it. Spies were emotionless inside and out. Not caring was the primary for them. Not just showing no care, but really not caring. It was easier to see how Alex got mixed up in such a world, and why he lived like he did when you saw the people he had to deal with in this building.

The entrance of the bank was nothing grand. It was plain, hiding in plain sight the biggest international secrets that the country could have. Only those with access knew the building, knew why it was like it was. There was a security desk, and reception. Ben with James trailing slightly behind him, walked up to the desk.

"I'm here to see Blunt. Regarding Rider." The man behind the desk, who hadn't actually looked up to see who it was nodded and the made a motion with his hand to be allowed through. It would appear like there was a lack in security, but that was the illusion, cameras littered the area, if the cameras didn't set off alarm you were good. Then the lift required a swipe pass that only employees had. If you lost it, that was it. It was pretty hard to come back after that.

In the lift, Ben turned to a clearly nervous James and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't how to phrase it nicely. Please, don't freak out. Don't hit anyone. Don't do anything. Was what he really wanted to say, but he couldn't really say that. He had to take into consideration James and how he would feel being spoken to in such a fashion.

"James," Ben started, but almost as soon as he had, James lifted a hand and waved away whatever he was going to say.

"Don't. I get it. Behave, anger to a minimal." Wolf looked at his friend. "I know what I have to do."

With that, silence fell upon the two men again. They didn't really have much else to say. They had to worry about how to approach the heads. How to tell them politely that they needed to know why it had taken so long for anyone to be called in, why Alex was living alone, what they planned to do about the teen spy. More importantly, if they would have problems handing over parental rights to the army men. To Ben and the rest of K-Unit, the only ones seemingly left who cared more about Alex the person than Alex the teen spy.

In Blunt's office, the head of MI6 was sitting waiting, He knew that they would come. He hadn't expected it to be so soon. His right hand Mrs Jones was standing beside him. Ready to step in if things appeared to get out of hand. She was sure that they wouldn't but, it might just happen. Blunt was a stubborn man with only the interests of the country in his mind. It didn't matter who he sent into the line of fire. Mrs Jones had long since argued against the use of the boy in the field. But, it was a battle she always lost. The boy was a real asset, one little problem was not going to change that.

There was no knock, just one minute the two were standing in silence and the next, two men marched into the room. For a moment they stood at the entrance of the room, and stared at the two other in the room. As if there was a mutual understanding about why they were there. Mrs Jones was a lot better at reading people than Alan Blunt was. She could tell they were both angry. She was slightly happy that Alex appeared to finally have people who cared about his well being, though no one would ever be tell that. She was a spy, the best in her day. Being cold and emotionless came naturally to her.

"What can we do for you, Agent Daniels, Wolf?" Mr Blunt motioned them forward as he spoke. His voice laced with boredom, knowing what this conversation would entail. Knowing what ever was to follow would not be an interesting conversation.

"I think you know sir. Alex." Ben said walking forward, with Wolf lagging behind slightly. "This morning, we came to realisation that the boy lives alone."

"Well, yes. His guardian is dead and there was no room here, and the Beacons was not an option. Here, he is close at hand for whenever we need him." Blunt stated very matter-of-fact tone. In the head of MI6's mind there was no other reason for having him so close. He was a great and useful asset. Having him somewhere other than London would not be a good idea for them. "But, you already knew that."

"Yes, we did. We think Alex is very capable of looking after himself. However, he's a teenager. He can't get another job. During the times he's here with no mission and just at, he has no other income. If this continues, he starves since he wouldn't be able afford food." Ben said, he knew that he was trying to get custody of Alex, but it wasn't really proving easy. They seen the state of Alex's cupboards upon arrival at the house the night before. Next to nothing. The boy had been living alone for over a month before he'd disappeared. Ben had wondered before going to sleep what the boy had done for food.

"He gets an allowance, £15 a week." Mrs Jones interrupted. It wasn't much, but the boy was 15 years old, they didn't really trust he'd spend the money wisely. It was the government money, they couldn't just throw it at a teenager and hope he made the right decision with it.

"Fifteen? That's it?" Wolf blurted out, his anger really beginning to build up. It was one thing to have to live alone but on so little. No wonder the cupboard had been empty. Wolf was glad they'd gone out to the local twenty-four hour Tesco and bought all the things necessary for a person to live off, and more. After a week of hospital food, they expected him to be hungry. He hadn't thought that the food they'd bought would be the best food the teen spy would've seen in months.

"It's more than enough." Blunt had grown bored of the conversation to the point where he was now reading through documents that sat on his desk. He looked up very briefly at a very angry Wolf.

"He'd starve. The boy's fifteen, it's no where near enough. You'd let him fucking starve!" Wolf had been about to start on a rant about his concerns of how little money they were planning of giving the teen spy, but Ben shot an annoyed glance in his direction and that got him to be quiet.

"I'm serious about wanting custody of Alex. I'm not around a lot, but it's what he needs. So, either you let me do this, or I go to every newspaper and tell them all about the teen spy you use for your own benefit." Ben knew his threat would mean nothing to the man, but it was worth a try, if they considered trying to improve Alex's life.

"Look, ask Alex, if says yes, we'll happily agree. In fact give him options, one, he stays in the custody of MI6, things stay how they are. Two, you get custody and you become responsible for him. Or three, he goes into the foster care system." Mrs Jones took over from the head of MI6, who believed he had better things to do that listen to two army men. She didn't believe the threat was real, but she thought it wouldn't hurt to play along.

"Fine. We'll ask." Fox said, he was about to turn to leave, when he noticed Wolf was ready to say something. He hoped to God that it wasn't something that could make things worse.

"Just answer me this, do you care at all about him? He's fifteen for goodness sake, and you talk about him as if he's not even human. It took you three months to find him. Three months. Were you just not looking? Or did you know where he was and just did nothing for three months?" His word were met with silence. "ANSWER me!"

"No, we don't care about him. He is an asset that is all. No, we did not know where he was, but we had more pressing matters, which came first. Tell Alex, to rest up, because we need him back in the field by the end of the month" It was Blunt who spoke, his voice showing no interest or caring, but he always did enjoy someone yelling at him while in his office. Wolf seemed more annoyed at the answer than anything else. However, Ben sent an apologetic smile to the two before forcibly pushing James out the room before he could do anything else. They walked to the lift in silence, and left the building in silence.

"WHAT the HELL was that?" Ben yelled the moment they were out the door. He had told the younger of the two to keep calm and he very clearly hadn't. Sure, it had annoyed him too. Alex was his friend, and the way they talked about him as if he meant nothing wasn't inspiring. But they weren't dealing with normal people, they were dealing with spies, and spies had secrets and ways of doing things.

"I don't know, I just lost it. Alex is a human being. A person. Fifteen fucking pounds a week is no way near enough." Wolf said. "What if he doesn't pick to be under your custody?"

"He'll pick me. Alex knows it's the best option." Ben assured him. But, Wolf didn't seem confident in that.

"Yeah, but what if? Alex will starve, look at him. It wouldn't take much. I won't just stand by and let MI6 indirectly kill a teenager." Wolf met his friend's eyes. He had never felt strongly for someone. He didn't want to one day learn that Alex had died because of something as minor as because he didn't enough money for substantial food.

"He won't. James, have some faith in the kid. He'll make the right decision. Now, wait here and I'll grab the papers from my desk. Do not go anywhere."

By mid afternoon, all of K-Unit were piled into the small car, watching the house. There had been little to no movement in the house all day, and all four men were worried. Sure, they assumed that Alex had probably gone back to sleep but there was a part of all of them, that was sure that Alex had accidentally caused himself another injury. They were all just waiting for the right time to go back in to the house. Wolf was growing very impatient. He just wanted to get of the car mostly. The sun was still high in the sky, but it was beginning to get pretty cold. None of them had eaten during the day, and were all thinking of the food they'd bought for Alex. Ben had filled in the rest of the unit on what MI6 had said regarding the teen spy. The two had seemed worried about Alex, but not to the same extent as Wolf had been. He'd mumbled something about not letting a kid die on his watch. No one had argued or gone against that.

Finally after what felt like forever, they were finally decided that going in was a good idea. The four men got out the car and walked back over to the house. Wolf took the lead once more, and as he reached the door first, knocked loudly. They stood in silence, and grew worried as there was no response. Wolf knocked again, louder, and still there was no response. This made Ben worried. He walked in front and unlocked the door using a key he'd borrowed before leaving that morning, knowing that it might just be useful. Very quietly the four walked into the house. Nothing seemed to have moved since they'd left. Nothing appeared touched.

Slowly they enter the main living area, and it was then they noticed the grey screen of a finished tape when no one had pressed stop. Wolf took the first few steps forward, and then he noticed the lump on the couch. A tiny body was lying across the couch. Soft snores being emitted from the boy's lips. You had to listen incredibly hard to realise it was coming from the sleeping form, you had to listen closely to even hear it. Wolf sighed as he took in the sleeping form. Slightly curled up, t-shirt riding up displaying the small of the boy's back, and part of the stomach. A hand under his head, the other hanging loosely over the edge of the couch. It was somewhat adorable, but at the same time, in his sleeping form Wolf, and the rest of K-Unit were reminded of what the teen had been through. Bruises, cuts, how thin he was. Wolf didn't want to be the one to wake up the teen, but he knew he had to. The kid needed to eat.

"Eagle, take the bowl, empty it out, Snake, go help and then go make something for dinner. For five people. Fox, you get the knife out of the wall, and I'll rewind the tape, and then we can tell him," Again each man nodded and went about his task. Wolf picked up the remote and rewound the tape. Surprised to see what was on the video. A much younger looking Alex. Five years old, no more. He stopped rewinding and pressed play. The laughter of a young boy filled the house, Snake, Eagle, and Fox and turned to look. It was hard to imagine the teen as anything other than a spy, and yet here he was, five years old, carefree, and laughing like a normal kid. They all shared a small smile, at least for part of his life he had been normal. As normal as normal could be. A stirring and groaning sound from the couch, forced Wolf to stop the video, and rewind it like that, more quietly without the images flashing on the screen. He turned round and watched as Alex appeared to be awaking from his dream.

The sound of laughter, had brought out Alex out of slowly drifting sleep. He'd been waking up for the past ten or so minutes, but this was what truly brought back to the land of the living. It had been an incredible sleep. He'd not slept that well in a very long time. More like, it had felt like forever since he'd slept that well. He opened his eyes, and was greeted with the sight of Wolf. He glanced around slightly and saw the other members of K-Unit. He groaned slightly but didn't say anything regarding it. If Alex was honest, he was pretty pleased to see them. He thought he'd pushed his luck with how he'd treated them before. He sat up slowly and a wave of dizziness washed over him.

"Alex?" Fox said tentatively, as he walked over to be next to Wolf, who then took a seat on the table in front of the couch. Alex nodded and then closed his eyes over. The first wave of pain hit him hard. He'd not felt it while sleeping, and he hadn't felt it right until his body had truly begun waking up. He hadn't had any medication since the previous day, and he was feeling this effects of this. He gripped onto the couch, and took very deep breaths until the pain subsided.

"So, what's the verdict?" Alex asked, his voice was shaky and low. Strain, mixed in with just having woken up made his voice like that.

"You have three options. One, you continue living how you did before all this. That is alone, here with the money that MI6 gives you, but with no adults what so ever. Two, foster care, or three, you agree to me and Wolf, becoming your guardians. We're away a lot with the nature of our jobs, but we'd help provide for you, protect you. You could even still live here. Wolf and I would move in here, and be your guardians." Fox spoke slowly, he was now nervous about the choices. It was why he put the one he wanted Alex to pick last. It was the best option, but he hoped as the last on, he'd remember it more.

Alex hadn't expected that. He had expected there to be another mission, for him to have to heal in the field, it had happened before. He had thought that maybe he'd get sent for more training, or have no choice in the matter at all. The fact he could actually chose was a first from MI6. Now, faced with the choice he didn't know. With foster care, there was the chance of escaping MI6 completely, but he didn't like the sound of foster care. He had never liked the sound of it. The first option seemed like a good idea, he liked living alone but he'd been struggling to make the money stretch far enough. The last option was the one he could see working well, but he didn't want to get close to people he'd probably end up losing.

"Well, I don't want foster care. Living alone was good but" Alex stopped, he didn't really want to go into those nights his mind had cast back to. "I want to stay here, in this house but I don't want to be alone. So, where do I sign?"

"So, you want us as your guardians?" Wolf asked unsure if he understood what Alex was saying. Ben did understand better. He pulled out the form, Alex needed to sign. It was only one, which had been given to him from MI6 to ensure that Alex had agreed to living with Fox and Wolf, and to not be under the custody of MI6. He handed it over to Alex and then gave him a pen.

"It's my best option." Alex replied with a shrug. He smiled slightly and signed where he needed to. He looked back up at the men. "So, What happens now?"

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